Electric-light tower



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

J. s. ADAMS. 'ELECTRIG LIGHT TOWER. No. 297,832. Patented Apr. 22, 1884.

I'fIJE S-EE; H

- (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. S. ADAMS.

ELECTRIC LIGHT TOWER.

No. 297,332. Patented Apr. 22, 1884.

3' Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.) I V J. s. ADAMS.

ELEGTRIG LIGHT TOWER. No. 297,332. Patented Apr. 22, 1884.

e 1. E e 4 J \M N'L55E5 ara STATES'PATENT much.

JOHN S. ADAMS, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR TO THE DETROIT IRON TOWERCOMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ELECTRIC-LIGHT TOWER.

To allwhom it rim/y concern: I

Be it known that I, JOHN S. ADAMS, a citizen of the United States,residing in Elgin,

lamps may be lowered to or near the base of the tower, for supplyingfresh carbons or for repairs, and thereby avoid the necessity ofclimbing the tower for these purposes; third, to provide a suitablecarriage supporting the lamps, and ways for guiding the carriage to and.from the top of the tower; fourth, to provide for the arrangement ofthe lamps upon the carriage whereby the lamps are raised and lowered inthe angles of the tower; and, finally, to provide suitable and effectivemeans for actuating and counterbalancing the carriage and lamps whenraising and lowering the same- I attain these objects by devicesillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which-- Figurel is a side elevation of portions of a tower embodying myinvention; Fig. 2, a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3, a verticaldetail section of aportion of the top of the tower on line a: m, Fig. 2,with the lamp-carriage in its operative position to project the lampsabove the top of the tower; Fig. 4, a detail longitudinal section of thetubular ways or guides, the couplings,and the tube connecting the wayswith the girts of the tower; Fig. 5, a perspective of the tubular-waycoupling detacliied; Fig. 6, a longitudinal section through thetubular-way coupling,with the girt of the tower in full lines, butbroken off; and Fig. 7, aperspective of my tower.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the severalfigures of the drawed together in any suitable manner and fornr ing theuprights or pillars of the tower, said uprights being arranged at thethree corners of a triangle, as indicated in Fig. 2, and converging fromthe base to the top of and of a length corresponding with the desiredheight of tower." Thenprights A are suitably braced and held together bymeans ol'horizontal tubes or rods a, forming girts screw-threaded upontheir ends, and held in couplings b on the uprights in the usual manner.Other and di-, agonally-extending rods or tubes 0 c, in sections of twopieces, connected at their intersections by lock-plate a, are connectedwith the uprights by means of a clevis or yoke, d, at each end, whichclevises are pivoted to the coupling on the uprights and have the diagonal intersecting rods secured into them, and are adjustable to increaseor diminish their tension by reason of having on each end respectively aright and left hand screw.

The construction of the body of the tower,

so far as my present invention is concerned, is essentially the same asthat described and claimed in my patent referred to, excepting that thetop of the tower is ofsomewhat great-er diameter, and the upper-ends ofthe uprights are connected by means of the girt a and coupling b,instead of a cap, to provide a central opening through which thesupporting-frame of the lamps may be raised and lowered.

Secured to the uprights at eachcorner of the tower, and at a suitabledistance below the top of the tower, are horizontal brackets e,

projecting beyond the sides of the tower, and

having secured at their extremities, by suitable couplings, (see Fig.2,) horizontal tubes It, forming a triangular frame and a portion of thetower-platiorm, and supporting a railing extending above the platform;but instead of coupling the tubes h to the brackets, the tubes maysimply rest on the bracket, as shown in Fig. 1, and be confined betweenparallel vertical extensions of the brackets, forming side posts for therailing. r

The corner-posts i, which support the railing, are secured to theintersections of tubes h by means of suitable couplings, which also jointhe ends of these tubes.

The railing is composed of one or more horizontal tubes or rods, f,secured to the posts formed by the vertical bracket-arms by suitablecouplings, and at their corner intersections are connected together bycouplings g, which couplings also connect them to the corner- 5 posts Z.

The. platform proper is composed of separate tubes 71, forming an openfloor for the attendant to stand upon when necessary for him to ascendthe tower, the tubes t being shortcned to leave the corners of theplatform open sufficient for him to .pass through. These tubes rest uponthe bracketse and the central support, 0, to which they may be securedby binding-wire or any suitable fastening, and

the platform may be covered with heavy wire netting or any othersuitable opcn fabric.

It will be noticed, that, by constructing the top of the tower in themanner described, a floor and railing is provided which is suffi- Ociently open to afford little or no serious obstruction to the passageof the rays of light to -the bottom of the tower, and that the center ofthe tower is left open from top to bottom, so

that a suitable guideway may be formed for 5 raising andlowering thelamps through the same. I

B B are two vertical and parallel tubes in sections, forming theguideway or well for the lamp-carriage and mast, to be presentlydescribed, connected at their top ends and at intervals of their lengthto the girts a of the tower by means of a coupling, D, pipe E, andcoupling F. (See Figs. 4, 5, and 6.) Coupling D has a fiat circular bodyadapted to 5 support the ends of the adjacent sections of the tubularguides, which body is provided with cylindrical projections or tenons 11, contiguous therewith and fitting and extend ing a sufficient distancewith the inner diameter of the tubes to rigidly but detachably connecttheir sections together. A head, 2, upon the coupling, provided with asocket, screwthreaded, or otherwise, receives the tube E, which has itsopposite end fitted into the coup- 5 ling F, encircling the girt a, andsecured thereby to a set-screw, 3.

A coupling having its body constructed as described not only serves toavoid the necessity of screwthreading the sections of pipe,

0 but to form an'unbroken continuation of the same upon their inner oroperative faces for an unobstructed passage of the lamp-carriage, whichcould not be if ordinary pipe-coupling were used.

It will be understo od,'of course, that the length of the tubes E isvaried in accordance with the distance between the girts and the tubularguidesas, for instance, the tubes E are much longer toward the base ofthan near the top of the tower, by reason of the converging form of thesame.

G represents a rectangular open frame or carriage of tubing, to theupper and lower end and about the transverse center of which is 5rigidly secured a mast, H,.which may be regarded as a portion of thecarriage, and which extends sufficiently high to support upon its upperend the lamp orlamps I above the tower when the main body of thecarriage is at its highest elevation in the tubular guides.

Owing to the great height of these towers, and principally to thelimited space in which they are usually erected, it is obvious that thediameter of their base should not be greater than is consistent withmaintaining the equilibrium of the tower; hence it is necessary to havethe top of the towerof as small diameter as is consistent with the freepassage of the lamps through the same when two or more lamps having thedesired spread are arranged in the same plane; and to this end the lampsare suspended by arms from the carriage, so as to move up and down inthe angles of. the tower, as shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, by thusarranging the lamps the top diameter of the tower under anycircumstances is not greater than is absolutely required, as it would beif the lamps were suspended at a right angle to the sides of the tower.

Carriage H is provided at its four corners with flanged anti-frictionrollers K K, embracing and adapted to travel on the periphery of thetubular guides, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. These anti-friction rollersare journaled in any suitable manner upon the carriage, but should be soarranged relative to each other and the tubular guides that the carriagewillhave a positive vertical or sliding but not a lateral movement. I donot, however, wish to be understood as limiting myself to anti-frictionrollers for guiding the carriage, for I may have forked or V-shapedprojections extending from the carriage and embracing the tubularguides.

The lampcarriage is provided at the center of width of its base with ahorizontally-projecting arm, 4, in the outer end of which is secured anendless rope or chain, preferably a wire rope, which passes over asheave, 5, journaled in a horizontal bracket, 6, on avertical piece oftubing secured between the top and second girt of the tower, (see Fig.3,)and

, underneath is a similar sheave, 7, secured to a bracket, 8, on a girtat or near the base of the tower, a weight, 9, upon said rope serving tocounterbalance the combined weight of the carriage and lamps.

The rectangular frame or lamp-carriage may be braced by diagonaltubes orrods 10, as shown in Fig. l, in the same manner as the tower, if sodesired but ordinarily the frame is sufficiently rigid if properlyjointed.

A tower constructed as above described and self-supporting provides anelevation for electric lights to illuminate large areas, particular- -lyin cities, where spaceis an object and where stepsare provided for thatpurpose in case of necessity, as shown in Fig. 7.

The simplicity of the construction of my tower enables itto be readilyand quickly put together when the parts are once for1ned,0r to be takenapart and packed compactly for shipment.

Having thus described my invention,what I. claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,

1. The combinatiomwith a tower and away, of a lamp-carriage mounted insaid way and projecting above the top of the tower, substan tially asdescribed.

2. The combination,witl1 atower, of alanupcarriage, and a way for thesame, said carriage being provided with a mast for supporting a lampabove the top of the carriage, substantially as described. i

3. The combinatiomwith a tower and an interior way, of a lamp-carriagemountedin said way. audone or more electric lamps supported on saidcarriage, substantially as described.

4. The cornbinatiomwith a cross-sectionallyangular tower and a movablelamp-carriage, of lamps mounted upon the carriage and moving up and downin the angles of the tower, substantially as described.

5. The combination,with a tower and an interiorway, of a lamp-carriagemounted in said way and projecting above the tower, substantially asdescribed.

6. The combinatiomwith a tower and a centrally interiorly arranged way,of a lamp-carriage mounted in said way, substantially as described.

7. The combination,with a tower and a centrally interiorly arranged way,of a lamp-carriage mounted in said way, and means for raising andlowering said'carriage, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with a skeleton tower and an interior way, of alamp-carriage sup ported in said way, and one or more electric lampsmounted on said carriage, substantially as described.

9. The combinatiomwith the sectional tubular way, the girts,and theconnecting-tubes, of a coupling provided with tenons entering eachopposing tube-section of the way, and with a socket receiving the endsof the connecting tubes, substantially as described.

JOHN S. ADAMS.

Witnesses:

J no. G. ELLIOTT, \V. 0. WHI ING.

illli

